12-3-09

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EASTCONN Tech Council Meeting Minutes for 12/3/09


Web 2.0 Links


Twitter by Steve
  • Twitter - http://twitter.com
  • Why Twitter? Beyond the social hype, Twitter provides a place for PLN (Professional Learning Network or Personal Learning Network). It's similar to having our TechCouncil go international.
  • Steve constantly mines the data stream and bookmarks his favorites through Delicious or Diigo.
  • Most people use a client to pull in a real time stream.
  • When you enter something into "What's happening?" you are sending a "Tweet."
  • Twitter has introduced lists which are subgroups of twitterers.
  • Popular twitter clients are Twirl and TweetDeck. TweetDeck is more sophisticated and lets you do real-time searching. TweetDeck also lets you create a group to follow. TweetDeck also lets you send automatically to FaceBook.
  • See more on our wikispace page Do You Twitter?

Jottit by Jim
  • jottit - http://jottit.com
  • When you go to jottit, you create a web site, then you claim site.
  • Simple to use and free but limited in what you can do.
  • Jim's presentation:

Google Sites and Apps by Marji
  • Google Apps for Educators - http://www.google.com/educators/p_apps.html
  • Ashford decided on Google Sites for their web page because it was free.
  • Most teachers have been able to use it and some are using it very well.
  • Marji has gmail accounts for teachers are Google Apps. She wishes it was done before the sites were created.
  • Downside is support because they only use email and turnaround time is a couple weeks.
  • Migration was difficult so she found a Google "guru" and for $349 dollars, he assisted with this task. Some earlier accounts will be migrated later.
  • One login and password puts them into all their Google applications. Marji's started having them use collaborative documents.
  • Since space can be a problem (hasn't yet!), the suggestion is to use Picasa for "smart" photo albums.
  • Many lesson plans are being put online at Ashford.
  • Marji is also putting up instructions for the staff.
  • Google Sites is great for small schools.
  • There are still questions about how to view student emails in case of concerns. You can also set the emails to stay within the domain.
  • You can create a list of users at the administration level.
  • See more at: Google Sites Information for Dec 3

Diigo in Education by Pam
  • Diigo - http://www.diigo.com/
  • Diigo in Education list from Pam - http://www.diigo.com/list/pskelly/diigo-in-education
  • Similar to Delicious, but much more powerful, and a higher learning curve s required.
  • After you create a Diigo account, you can then make it an educator account (at the bottom of their homepage).
  • The educational accounts are secure, private, and can be shared by a group of students you set up.
  • Every morning you receive an email from Diigo Education with some interesting links shared by other teachers.

SurveyMonkey by Glen
  • SurveyMonkey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/
  • Free version is restricted with the number of questions and participants. Brooklyn has used the free version and once purchased a month's subscription for a climate survey that had many respondents.
  • Creating the survey is very easy for both students and teachers.
  • You can select an attractive background theme.
  • Examples are available so you can see the type of question you want to use.
  • Steps are: 1) design survey, 2) collect responses, and 3) analyze results.

WWP online by Donna
  • WWP online - https://www.wpponline.com/Welcome.aspx
  • Union chose WWP online for their laptop writing program.
  • Sells assessments to private schools. Donna looked and saw a lot of schools were using it.
  • Very easy for students to use.
  • Automatically holds partially completed documents.
  • Intuitive scoring of any prompt.
  • There is a timer if you want to use it that can be set for 45 min., 90 min., etc.
  • Teachers can add sticky notes.
  • Scores along 6 scales. These scores agreed with the teachers' scores.
  • Gives feedback and skill lessons.
  • Reports for individual students and by class.

Delicious by Donna

Xtranormal by Jane

Bitstrips by Michael

The remaining Web 2.0 tools will be covered next time if there is time.

Other Items
  • Steve recommended participating in the virtual conference for the next 2 weeks at k12onlineconference.org
  • Rich suggest 10MinutEmail - http://10MinutEmail.com - for disposable email accounts.
  • Marji suggested Edutopia's 10 Tips for web 2.0 at http://www.edutopia.org/ten-top-tips
  • Jane informed us that Connecticut SDE is going to adopt ISTE standards.
  • Karen Kaplan is trying to develop a grant for 21st Century learning environments hopefully by mid-December. The state has changed the formula so Jane is unsure of how many of our districts will be eligible.